W is for Wally Makes Soup

  April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,000 I have written.

I'm not into cooking, so recipes or food discussions are not a common feature on my blog. However, I do publish a recipe from time to time. Here is a post about a potato and ham soup that Wally made. This was originally published in March 2012.

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Wally Makes Soup

Wally likes to eat. No, let me correct that. Wally loves to eat. However, he doesn't like to cook. But today, he did just that. I asked him to help me with some potato soup by peeling the potatoes. One thing led to another, and in less than an hour, he had created a delicious potato ham soup.

True to the family tradition, he didn't follow a recipe. He looked at a couple of recipes, took inventory of ingredients on hand, and started cooking. For better nutrition, he added carrots and used low-fat cream cheese. He didn't use onions as a favor to Ward, and he added his own special optional ingredient at the end--Stubb's Spicy BBQ Sauce. The result was a very delicious soup that reminded me of scalloped potatoes with ham. I hope this successful cooking adventure is the beginning of a new trend.

Below are basic instructions for making the soup. Detailed recipe at the end.

Chop potatoes, celery, carrots, and ham.

Sauté celery, carrots, and garlic, then add potatoes and water. Cook until veggies are tender. Add cream cheese and ham.                                     

Garnish with cheddar cheese and/or Stubb's Spicy BBQ sauce. Serve and enjoy!

Wally's Potato Ham Soup

Ingredients:

Oil, 1 T

Celery, 2 stalks chopped

Carrots, 3 large chopped

Garlic, 3 cloves minced

Potatoes, 7 medium--5-6 cups chopped

Water, 4 ½ cups

Chicken bouillon cubes, 2

Low-fat cream cheese, 8 oz, softened and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes

Ham, 2 cups chopped (¾ lb)

For garnish:

Shredded cheddar cheese

Stubb's BBQ Sauce, 1 teaspoon/bowl

Sauté celery, carrots, and garlic in oil until celery starts to soften.

Add potatoes, water, and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil and boil until vegetables are tender. Approximately 10- 15 minutes.

Lower heat or turn off heat on electric range and add cream cheese. Stir until melted.

Stir in ham.

Note: I added a little of Stubb's spicy BBQ sauce into my bowl. It gave the soup just a hint of spicy hotness without overwhelming the other flavors.

My mom and dad just put a little shredded cheese on theirs.

Everyone was happy. I hope you like it too.

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Until next time...

V is for Velleity

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

Here is another repost from an A-Z Challenge in 2015. I could add a lot more to the list if I were writing this today. 😀

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V is for Velleity

You know how they say if you are really going to learn a new word, you need to use it. Well, a couple of years ago, I learned velleity, a new-to-me word that I thought was great. I could see using it on a daily basis. However, that never seemed to happen after the first week, and I forgot it until recently. So I'm going to take a stab at it again.
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Velleity 

Velleity---a noun that means to have a wish or desire to do something, but you are not interested in it enough to act on it.

--My desire to revamp the look of my blog was more of a velleity than a real plan.

--Velleity is what keeps me from cleaning up the pile on the bed in the guest room.

Can you think of a way you could use velleity in a sentence?

But wait, there's more.

Here's how you say velleity.
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Until next time...

U is for Use it Up

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

I did the post below for the 2022 A-Z Challenge. I had forgotten the details of it, so maybe you have, too. Here it is.

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This is a cross-stitch that I did several years ago. I selected it because I liked the saying and the flower detail around the edges. Recently, I began to wonder about the origin of the saying. After a bit of Googling, Barry Popik, who studies the origins of words, enlightened me.

The saying is thought to be a New England proverb seen in print as early as 1933. Earlier versions of the saying were “Eat it up, wear it out, make it do,” and it was widely used during the Great Depression. However, the War Advertising Council modified it and used the saying during World War II to promote the conservation of resources to help the war effort. During this campaign, the wording was changed to "Use it up, wear it out, Make it do, Do without." 

It has been used since then by frugal and environmentally-minded people everywhere. Do you ever quote this saying?

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Until next time...

T is for Today

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

Through the years, I have occasionally written a Today post. In these posts, I have a picture I have taken, along with reminders of ways I want to live my life better. I liked looking back through these, and I think I should make it a practice again. Below are a few of my Today posts.

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Today, I am going to think about the things outside of me that are gradually affecting my life.

This is part of Wally and Theodore's tree house that Ward built years ago. As you can see, the tree is slowly growing around one of the supports and has pushed up a floorboard. I need to think about whether or not I have a "tree" slowly changing me. Am I letting outside forces determine where I'm going and where I'm going to end up? I'm not sure, but I do know that if I don't think about it, they very well might.

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Today I am going to be organized

 and not run around in circles.

Some days are more productive than others, and it usually involves being organized and having a plan. I have a plan, so I am not going to get dizzy trying to get things done today.

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Today I am going to stand out from the background.

Six-spotted Green Tiger Beetle

Some days it is easier to just go with the flow, but today I am going to put forth the extra effort to stand out from my status quo. I'm going to do that by trying something out of my comfort zone. So many things to choose from...

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Today I am going to step back and look at things from a distance.

Sometimes I get too caught up in the details and forget the big picture. Today, I am going to look from a distance so I can get a new perspective on things.

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Until next time...

S is for a Second Look

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

I faithfully did Second Look posts every week for years. During this time, I would take a look around my yard and record what I saw. We had 2 acres with many established beds and some wild areas. I loved exploring every week and learned so much about bugs, plants, and animals that visited our yard. I tried continuing the practice when I moved here, but our yard is smaller and tamer than before, so I didn't keep it up. Maybe I should try again.

Below is the post that started it all. This was written in April 2011 and was the second post I ever wrote.

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A Second Look

  

Spring has sprung!  The flowers are emerging from the ground. The pollen is dropping from trees. Plentiful April showers are determined to bring May flowers.

Spring was an enchanted time for my children when we first moved to the four-season climate that we live in now. Up until this point in their lives, they had lived along the Gulf Coast, where the seasons were marked by whether or not you wore a light jacket or were drenched in sweat. The emergence of the crocus, the blooming of the daffodils, and the sprouting of new green leaves were things they had never seen before.  When they came home from school, they would call me out into the yard, and we would go on a treasure hunt to find what new flowers were blooming. It was an exciting time for all as we got to know our new surroundings. This excitement lasted all summer that first year. 

Then, as time wore on and the weeds seemed to be encroaching menacingly on our beautiful flowers, our emphasis changed. We began to notice the weeds more than the flowers. The kids got more interested in video games than plants, and the names that I taught them of the colorful blooming flora in the beginning became the yellow one and the purple one. In other words, our enchantment was gone. Spring moved into the background as all things seem to do after a while.

Then this Spring, we had a taste of that excitement again. While cutting daffodils to bring inside, we discovered that instead of just some white ones and some yellow ones, we actually had 6 different varieties. Who knew? With the second look at the daffodils, we noticed other things growing around them. We noticed which ones bloomed early and which ones were just budding. We noticed which plants the deer had been nibbling on. We noticed the birds. Wow! There's a lot of activity going on outside this time of year if you take the time to notice.

It may not last long, but for just a little while, we were all like the young kids my sons were that first year. I hope we can remember to take a second look at things around us, then and again. Who knows what we'll find?

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But Wait There's More!

A Second Look around my yard at what's new.

First up is the rainbow we saw. Ward said that he thought it was a double rainbow. I didn't see a double one.

The azaleas have bloomed. If you look closely at the next pictures,
 you can see I took them just after it stopped raining.

Azalea

Amsonia

Cherry laural

Lily of the Valley

Iris

Dogwood

Azaleas

Chickadee nest. No eggs yet.

Weather vane on top of our garage.
 Bless asked for a picture, and I finally remembered to take one.

Until next time...